Startup Weekend Wolfville – The Start of Something Amazing

Startup Weekend Wolfville is happening soon! It’s a first for Acadia, and we hope to see lots of students come out, even students who might not think of themselves as “entrepreneurs”.

It’s a great place to learn what it’s like to create a real product with a team. Some folks will be passionate and driven, some will be quiet and steady, some will have a brilliant idea at the last minute. That’s how business works!

One of the great things about Startup Weekend is that it isn’t a classroom. It’s all about action. Don’t just come up with an idea and have the most outgoing person pitch it. Come up with an idea, improve it, get out of the building and test your idea with real people, gather data, create a prototype, change your idea, test again, create a demo using software and visuals, and show it to real judges who can help you now or in the future.

There are tons of great opportunities for everyone at a Startup Weekend. Are you the person with a great idea? Find people who can help you turn it into a real product. Are you a developer? Work with a team doing something that grabs your attention. Let the other teams, the judges, and mentors see what you can do. Are you a designer? You’re essential as well. If it isn’t attractive, the demo might not have the impact it could. And if you don’t know how you could contribute, but are curious to see how it all works, come and join a team and help out – there’s lots to do, from researching markets and competition, to asking mentors for help for the team, to getting out of the building and getting customer feedback.

This is a big event for Wolfville. It will draw students, business people, not-for-profits and others together to solve real problems. Wish there was a solution to that burning issue? Bring it on! Maybe someone will be as passionate as you and you’ll create a solution that weekend.

We want you to learn. Learn what you are capable of in 54 hours, what is possible, how quickly an idea can turn into reality, what help there is in the community, the university and the province. We hope you make new contacts. We hope you’ll break down the artificial walls between “student” and “business” and “community” and build a new path together. We hope you’ll learn that entrepreneurship is a mindset, not a job title, and that anyone can contribute to the creation of an amazing product or service.

We have some amazing mentors coming to help the teams: John Hamblin from Startup Digest Halifax, a veteran of many Startup Weekends and other events; Fazeel Gareeboo, a software director from EA Tiburon, one of the largest game development companies in the world, will be available by phone; Eric Mignot, a Scrum trainer and expert in Test Driven Development and XP will also be available by phone in three languages! More mentors are joining all the time, and we will be posting more blogs about them here!

Our judges will come from the community, from banks, investors, and other organizations which regularly evaluate early stage business ideas. They are there not to criticize, but to help focus attention on what makes an idea worth investing in. Their feedback alone is worth the investment you make to come to the event!

We will also have students and faculty from other universities, investment organizations, funding organizations, and from Acadia.